International Day of Peace_21 September

Geneva International Centre for Justice

www.gicj.org

“I refuse to accept the view…that the bright daybreak of PEACE AND BROTHERHOOD
can never become a reality.”

Martin Luther King. Jr.
From Acceptance-Speech at Nobel Price Ceremony

December 10, 1964

Contents

The Day of Peace in the Context of Armed Conflict............................................1

Refugees and Migrants in a progressively Intolerant and Indifferent
World................................................................................................................. 3

Achieving Peace and Sustainable Development as a Fundamental Goal
for all States.......................................................................................................7
GICJ’s Position and Recommendations. ............................................................9

International Day of Peace

By: Jennifer Tapia Boada.

The Day of Peace in the Context of Armed Conflict.

The International Day of Peace1, observed on September 21 of each year, seeks to put an end
to the permanent suffering of innocent civilians that are trapped in armed conflict and exposed
to hazardous circumstances, such as sniper activity, unexploded landmines, sieges, aerials
bombardment, etc. In addition to that, during armed conflict, innocent civilians are
continuously subjected to a series of human rights abuses committed by all parties: enforced
disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture and summary executions, being the most common
practices. However, all the perils and human rights abuses are not the end of the story for these
unfortunate civilians. To aggravate the situation, there are also terrible consequences to their
quality of life. The widespread fear and insecurity generated by armed conflict cause immense
waves of internal displacements and refugees. Unfortunately, due to their vulnerable and
desperate conditions, these people also suffer from other perilous situations, sometimes falling
into the hands of migrant-smuggling networks or human trafficking criminals. To make matters
worse, most of the times both internally displaced persons and refugees cannot return home for
extended periods of time, leaving their whole lives, projects and dreams behind. For these
reasons, this year, the international day of peace focuses on promoting the support for refugees
and migrants fleeing after months or years of extreme suffering caused by armed conflict.

www.impakter.com

During conflicts,

children are the most

affected by violence.

Many of them lose

their families. Their

risk of suffering

grave human rights

violations is

incredibly high.

1 The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by resolution 36/67 of the United Nations General
Assembly to coincide with its opening session.

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On this international day of

Peace, Geneva International

Centre for Justice (GICJ)

seizes the opportunity to

underline the 33th

anniversary of the General

Assembly Declaration on the

Right of Peoples to Peace2,

which since it was

proclaimed, has sought to

strengthen international

security; restating the United blogs.worldbank.org
Nations commitment to the

purposes and principles on which the Organization was founded. The Declaration on the Right

of Peoples to Peace acknowledges that life without war is the fundamental requirement for the

development and progress of a State and society, and it states that all peoples have the sacred

right to live in peace. for the full enjoyment of all human rights.

According to the Global Peace Index 20173, only 12 countries out of 163 ranked thereto, are

considered to be free from conflict. Worse still, 32 countries are placed as the least peaceful to

live due to ongoing conflicts, being Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen at the

very bottom of the ranking. During armed conflicts, combatants constantly target civilian

infrastructures as a strategic target. Women suffer abominable atrocities, and sexual slavery of

woman is used as an arm of

humiliation and to impose fear.

Likewise, armed conflict

separates children from their

families and therefore they are

most vulnerable to suffer from

starvation and malnutrition. On

www.amnesty.ca the other hand, safe drinking water
often becomes a scarce resource in

2 http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/39/11
3 http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/GPI-2017-Report-1.pdf

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areas with large numbers of landmines, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases. For civilians
living in these terrible plight, life turns into a daily struggle to survive. In many cases, civil war
and internal turmoil have become an everlasting situation, so their hopes of having a peaceful,
safe and dignified life again, have crumbled. Refugees and internally displaced persons are not
only the symptoms of war, but they depict the horrid consequence of the colossal waves of
violence, which in many cases is motivated by the fight for power that also includes the
intervention of international coalitions.

Refugees and Migrants in a progressively Intolerant and Indifferent World.

The conditions of armed conflict, along with many other economic, social, cultural and political
limitations caused mostly by poverty levels, labour shortages and internal turmoil; are the cause
for millions of people around the world taking the courageous decision to seek for more
dignified lives in foreign lands that can offer – or at least they think can offer- greater security
and well-being. In this sense, GICJ asserts that the instinct of movement is natural in all human
beings when the living conditions are not adequate. Throughout the history of man, people
have always been in movement across territories and borders, and it is because of this instinct
that globalization has progressively emerged.

Reuters/ Umit Bektas (www.qz.com)

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Based on recent data of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, there
is an estimated 243.7 million migrants living in foreign countries. Additionally, as reported by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees4, there are over 22.5 million refugees
worldwide. Every day, more than 28 thousand people are forced to flee their homes because of
conflict and persecution. Paradoxically, the more humanitarian crisis increases, the more the
populist extremism tendencies, as well as high marked hostility towards refugees grow across
Europe, in the main host countries for refugees5 , and around the world.

www.nytimes.com

Syrian refugees wait near the border railway station of Idomeni, northern Greece,
to cross into Macedonia. Credit: Santi Palacios/Associated Press

GICJ would like to raise its concern not only on hate speech, which has been reflected on racist
and xenophobic discourses made by some world leaders causing nothing more than the rise of
violence and intolerance in their own societies; but also on anti-immigration and anti-refugee
ideologies emerging in many countries, founded on a widespread dismay about the threat to

4 http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html
5 Hostility grows towards Syrian Refugees in Lebanon. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-
lebanon-refugees-tension-idUSKCN1B8128

4

www. time.com jobs, and the belief that
Yezidi refugees from Iraq, cry after arriving on a vessel from Turquey to immigration, minority
Lesbos (Greece), 2015. groups and diversity are
a menace to national
security and culture.
This dismay is reflected
by hostility, racism and
even baseless
accusations against
refugees and migrants
in the host countries,
carried out both
globally and in isolated
cases.

In addition, there has being an increasing dread to terrorism in western countries, based on
recent attacks carried out by terrorist groups (which have formed precisely amidst armed-
conflict countries), that commit criminal acts in the name of faith and religion. This have caused
the world to be even more reluctant to the acceptance of refugees coming from Islamic
countries. While GICJ expresses deep solidarity to the victims of the recent detestable terror
attacks across Europe and other western countries, and acknowledges that these have caused
unbelievable suffering to the families and communities of the victims, GICJ notes that of the
34,676 people killed in terror attacks of last year, 19,121 correspond to North Africa and the
Middle East, which represents a 55% of the total; whereas 1% corresponding to the
western countries of Europe6. These statistics show the high death-rates of conflictive regions,
caused by terror attacks, however, these are complemented by the high death rates caused by,
inter alia, military and security forces’ attacks and shelling by the international coalition; not
to mention the marred socioeconomic factors, creating an unbearable environment for civilians
in conflict zones. In this sense, GICJ asserts that refugees coming from conflict areas, which
are discriminatorily labelled as terrorists, are just normal -non-terrorist- people with children
and families, who want and deserve to live in peace.

6 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/report-07-percent-terror-victims-western-europe-
170824035850113.html

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On one hand, hosting refugees

and migrants can be

economically beneficial to many

countries. In the countries of

Europe for example, hosting

refugees and migrants could

potentially reverse negative

demographic trends of the

population, if they are well

integrated into the job market.

Additionally, the integration of www.macleans.ca
refugees in many countries can People hold signs as hundreds gather for a rally organized by the
boost the construction industry local Kurdish community to call on the Canadian government to
and the level of investments in allow more Syrian refugees into the country, in Vancouver, on
September 2015. (DARRYL DYCK/CP).

the local economy. Likewise, migrants also contribute to the global economic growth because

the majority of migrants tend to send money back to their families in their home countries,

representing a source of foreign exchange for developing countries. They also contribute in

their host country by paying taxes, making social contributions and investing their money.

On the other hand, beyond offering

benefits to certain economies, GICJ

maintains that hosting refugees and

migrants fleeing from war and

conflict, is a moral and legal

obligation to States. GICJ firmly

believes that the humanitarian

response to the dire plight of millions

of people should not only be left to

Syrian children begging in the street of Istanbul- Turkey neighbouring countries, since the
Credit: Bulent Kilic/Agence France-Presse -Getty. obligation applies to all States who

had committed to a burden sharing principle and to the purposes and principles of International
Human Rights Law7 and International Humanitarian Law8. Absurdly however, the heaviest

7 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/UniversalHumanRightsInstruments.aspx
8 https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/statement/6t7g86.htm

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burden of sheltering millions of refugees and the top hosting countries happen to be developing
countries, such as Turkey (2,9m), Pakistan (1.4m), Lebanon (1m), Iran (979 k), Uganda (950
k), Ethiopia (792 k), etc. In this sense, GICJ firmly maintains that the international community
should implement more effective measures in offering a humanitarian response to the atrocities
of war, distributing cooperation equally.

Achieving Peace and Sustainable Development as a Fundamental Goal for
all States

On this International Day for Peace, GICJ stresses that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development9, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and by all 193 United Nations
Members, is a plan of action intended for People; the Planet; Prosperity; and it seeks to
strengthen universal Peace and to foster global Partnership. In this way, the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development is designed to foster peaceful, free-from-violence societies, and it
clearly states that no sustainable development can be achieved without peace.

Additionally, the Sustainable Development Goals
promote access to quality education for all people.
However, the violence generated by armed conflict
causes the destruction of schools and the
displacement of children with their families,
making impossible for them to continue their
education. Moreover, prolonged conflicts put at
risk the education of entire generations, making
children unable to acquire basic skills to take part
in the development of their countries, in the future.
Without peace in the regions, achieving the
sustainable goal of education turns impossible to
reach.

Syrian Children
Source: Pinterest.com

9 A/RES/70/1 adopted on 25 September 2015

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While States work their way into advancing forward the compliance of the commitments on
the Sustainable Development Goals, GICJ asserts that the international community needs to
make more efforts to improve the situation of peace and security for people, by
interconnecting all objectives and unfolding more effective strategies to: put an end to poverty
in the world; promote global economic growth; make employment and decent work available
for all people; reduce the high inequality among countries; and promote peaceful and just
societies; while restoring global partnerships and cooperation.

www.trtworld.com
Syrian children play at the Oncupinar camp , close to the border with Syria, in southeastern Turkey.

Moreover, the Charter of the United Nations, adopted by the 51 original member countries in
1945 (and now ratified by all member states of the United Nations) as the constituent treaty of
the United Nations, is determined to save peoples from war and to promote better standards of
life. Likewise, the Charter affirms that one of the main purposes of the United Nations is to
maintain peace and security, and to achieve international cooperation for solving international
problems of economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character. In addition, chapter VII of
the UN Charter establishes actions in response to threats and breaches to peace. Therefore, All

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Member States have committed to fight together and in mutual cooperation to take all necessary
measures to achieve peaceful societies and quality of life to its people.

GICJ’s Position and Recommendations.

www.huffingtonpost.com

On the International Day of Peace, GICJ calls on states, civil society and all people to reflect
on the actions that can be taken to contribute on the construction of global peace. Let the fight
for peace not be only a rhetorical, unreal, unattainable and burlesque ideal. May the search for
peace be a journey that is meritorious of effort and hope. Let the fight for peace be a
strengthening path for all communities, a path leading to empathy for the plight of the most
unprivileged persons, irrespective of the country of origin, race, religion or any other
distinction. May the international day of peace not be the only day where States are asked to
cease fire. And let us make the day of peace to be the seed that grows compassion and solidarity
in society.

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However, achieving peace is not only our world leaders’ task and responsibility, but it concerns
to all members of our entire society. May this day serve as a way to spread solidarity and hope.
Achieving peace does not only require ceasing fire, it also require eradicating xenophobia and
discrimination of any kind, as well as a persevering movement for human rights in the world.
In this sense, GICJ urges the International Community and developed nations to share the
responsibility of hosting refugees and migrants as a demonstration of humanity and
international solidarity. Likewise, GICJ calls on the States, civil society and academic
institutions to support non-discrimination, equality, justice and dignity principles for those who
are deprived of their sustenance; ensuring that everyone who is forced to flee their homes
receive the protection to which they are entitled, under international humanitarian law.
Moreover, GICJ asserts that education to children about the value of tolerance and mutual
respect is key for building a fair and inclusive world that embraces diversity.
Lastly, GICJ maintains that a definite solution to dire plight of refugees, migrants and internally
displaced persons is to put a definite end to war, with the cooperation and willingness of the
States and the international community as a whole.

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Geneva International Centre for Justice
(GICJ)

Postal address: +41 22 788 19 71 [email protected]
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